The current issue on English has become a hot topic of great discussion among the society. The public has received it with mixed feelings. We can see many people feel that the use of English as a medium of instruction on teaching Mathematics and Science is a right step for school students to keep up with. However, some people against the implementation made by the government because they feel that, it will reduce the role and the important of our mother tongue and other vernacular languages such as Mandarin and Tamil. We can see today most of people around the world use English to communicate with each other in learning, business, economic and government sector. English is an international language, and it can reduce the barriers of distance, race, and belief. We also need to admit that English is one of the official languages of the United Nations (UN). Beside that, it is also use in major international meetings and conventions as well as the lingua franca in commercial world. So, we can assume that, the importance of English as a world language cannot be denied. Our country, Malaysia as the nation that strives towards achieving Vision 2020, the teaching Science, Mathematics and others technical subjects in English are considered necessary. For instance, when we are in university level, many of the books are in English. So, when we implemented this method to school students, it will help them to understand better the courses in university. Many people assume that most of advanced countries such as Germany, Japan and Korea, they do not use English as their main or major language in their daily life such as in economic sector, business sector as well as learning. But, we need to know that, our country is one of the development countries, so we need to implement the usage of English in every sector in order to achieve high achievement and to be recognized by others. Considering that Malaysians study English from their first year in primary school, it is logical that it can be easier to promote English than to start off with a foreign language if we look to another language for sources. Other than that, many people fear of promoting English because they feel that English will downgrade the national language to second place. But for me, it is not true. We use English because we need to follow the flow in today’s era of globalization and of course we do not want our country to be left behind. Beside that, we can see translation of academics books from English to national language has been slow partly because of the lack of experts who are well-versed in both languages. Proficiency in English may be used as a medium to progress and it can increase the store of knowledge in the national language. In my opinion, what should we really need to be concerned is the reality of situation in Malaysia that we face today. The standard of English has declined by many people and it actually can hinder many bright students from keeping up the good achievements at tertiary level simply because they are not proficient in English. So, effort to raise the standard of English should be gradually, and not at the expense of any one generation of students. In conclusion, the decline of English is natural result of the emphasis on the national language in order to create a national identity for Malaysians over the last few decades. Since this has been achieved now, Malaysian once again can look to English in order to keep up with the latest development in today’s world of globalization and to acquire a greater store of knowledge.
